Negotiated cash fed cattle trade ranged from limited on light demand to a standstill through Tuesday afternoon, with too few transactions to trend, according to the Agricultural Marketing Service.
Last week, live prices were $149-$150/cwt. in the Texas Panhandle, $150 in Kansas and $153 in Nebraska and the western Corn Belt. Dressed prices were $242 in Nebraska and $240-$242 in the western Corn Belt.
Choice Boxed beef cutout value was 39¢ higher Tuesday afternoon at $264.94/cwt. Select was 13¢ higher at $236.05/cwt.
Cattle futures softened Tuesday, perhaps on election defensiveness.
Feeder Cattle futures closed mixed, from an average of 38¢ lower to an average of 4¢ to higher.
Live Cattle futures closed an average of 18¢ lower, except for unchanged and 22¢ higher in two contracts.
Corn futures closed mostly 3¢ to 8¢ lower.
Soybean futures closed mostly 3¢ to 6¢ lower.
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Major U.S. financial indices closed higher again Tuesday with investors apparently betting on a more market-friendly landscape following the midterm elections.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 333 points higher. The S&P 500 closed 21 points higher. The NASDAQ was up 51 points.
West Texas Intermediate Crude Oil futures (CME) closed $2.25 to $2.88 lower through the front six contracts.
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Early-release tables for USDA’s Agricultural Projections report from the Economic Research Service ERS project the beef cow inventory to be 1.1 million head fewer year over year when the new year begins at about 29 million head. That would be 3.6% less than the same time a year earlier. ERS projects the nation’s beef cow herd declining another 387,000 head (-1.3%) to 28.6 million head by Jan. 1 2024 before rebounding back to 29.1 million head Jan. 1, 2025. From there the herd grows slowly to 31.3 million head at the beginning of 2032.
Total cattle inventory in the projections decline 2.5 million head this year (-2.7%) to 89.4 million head and another 800,000 head next year (-0.9%) to 88.6 million head at the beginning of 2024.